Monday, June 29, 2009

Cato Experts Dissect Obama's Health Care Town Hall Meeting

Cato Institute Does It Again! Making the complex understandable.

From reason.tv

It This A View Of The Future Of The USA...?

Tetra Pak to seek immediate talks with government after Chavez counterfeiting threat
By Rory Harrington, 16-Jun-2009
Foodproductiondaily.com

The global packaging giant [Tetra] admitted it was taken back when Hugo Chavez declared that his country would no longer recognize patented products. The mercurial 54-year-old leader said his country might copy packing technology developed by Tetra Pak as part of a strategy to reduce costs and reliance on foreign companies.

The company was reacting to the announcement made on national television in which the left-wing Chavez dismissed patents as “universal knowledge” before declaring: “We don’t have to be subject to capitalist laws.” The government also said it would also seize cardboard manufacturers that refused to supply packaging to state-owned food companies.

How long before BHO decides patents represent "universal knowledge" and decides to return the ownership of that "universal knowledge" over to what its 'rightful owners' the working class people of the U.S.?

So far BHO has dissolved the validity of contracts when he nationalized Chrysler & GM and gave the majority ownership to the unions; when he forces banks to take TARP money then wouldn't accept repayment of the money; so how long before he simply negates intellectual property rights?

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

You Wanna See a Horror Film?


If this doesn't frighten you, nothing will....

Watch it in High Quality here.

BTW - It's misnamed. It is really NOT about BHO.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Could This Be The Next WPA-like Make Work Project?

Here is what 60 years of liberal democrat and union labor (but I repeat myself) rule lead to:

US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive
UK Telegraph
By Tom Leonard in Flint, Michigan
Published: 6:30PM BST 12 Jun 2009

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.

The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.

Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.

Most are former industrial cities in the "rust belt" of America's Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis. [Anyone see a common theme amongst these cities?]

He [Mr. Kildee] said: "The obsession with growth is sadly a very American thing. Across the US, there's an assumption that all development is good, that if communities are growing they are successful. If they're shrinking, they're failing." [Does he mean that people leaving the cities for lack of work is a good thing?]

Flint's recovery efforts have been helped by a new state law passed a few years ago which allowed local governments to buy up empty properties very cheaply. [New London vs Kelo, anyone. Eminent domain, here they come.]

They could then knock them down [who pays for this?] or sell them on to owners who will occupy them [I thought they said no one lived there to begin with - hence buying them in the first place!]. The city wants to specialise in health and education services [For who? I thought everyone moved away?], both areas which cannot easily be relocated abroad.

The city is buying up houses in more affluent areas to offer people in neighbourhoods it wants to demolish. Nobody will be forced to move, said Mr Kildee. [How can this possibly be cost effective?]

There is so much wrong with this whole idea and the premise on which it stands I don't know where to begin?

Who pays for the demo & turning everything back into meadows?

If they are buying homes in more affluent neighborhoods and relocating people from poorer neighborhoods, won't this mean the more affluent neighborhoods will fall into decay as its new residents are poorer than existing residents?

How would you feel if you lived in a more affluent neighborhood and the city relocated someone from a not-so-affluent neighborhood?

If they are using the acquired land, supposedly purchased where no one lived, to build healthcare & education facilities, who will these facilities serve - I thought everyone left?

If they are building NEW healthcare & education facilities (where no one lives) what happens to the old healthcare & education facilities? Technically, shouldn't these be under utilized since everyone has left? Do the tax payers have to then pay to tear down and/or rehab the old facilities or are these new facilities in addition to the current under utilized healthcare & education facilities?

I wanted to live where I could see pasture & not have neighbors looking over their fence into my backyard, so I actually bought my little slice of heaven.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Test It Yourself... Google: Pvt William Andy Long

What do you get?

The FIRST story that is NOT a blog is SEVEN stories down!!!

THIS IS A COMPLETE OUTRAGE!!!

WHERE IS THE COVERAGE!!!

AP has the only story and it's on Google at #7 and PAGE #6 until you get to ABC News (aside from local AR news regarding the shooting & funeral).

Not CNN.

No results were found for: "Pvt William Andy Long" from www.cbsnews.com

MSNBC: 1 Story on funeral: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31172325/

ABC News: 2 stories: In Memoriam -- Will Long and a picture: Daris Long, red cap, salutes the flag-drapped casket of his son, U.S. Army Pvt.

Fox News: 15 stories on the first 2 pages. Seriously, try it!

Maybe this is why Fox News is beating all their competition COMBINED!!!!

IRS Weighs Rules for Taxing Private Use of Work Cellphones

Yes, you read that right:

IRS Weighs Rules for Taxing Private Use of Work Cellphones

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | Personal Technology
JUNE 11, 2009, 4:38 P.M. ET
By MARTIN VAUGHAN

WASHINGTON -- The IRS is weighing a proposal to deem one-quarter of employees' use of work cellphones as personal use and therefore subject to tax as a fringe benefit.

The proposal is one of several options the IRS put forward this week on the tax treatment of employer-provided cellphones. Current law already requires that the value of those cellphone services be included in a worker's gross income, unless the employee keeps detailed records showing that the cellphone is used for work only.

But as a practical matter, many companies don't enforce the record-keeping requirements. The IRS proposals from this week aim to simplify the requirements and aid enforcement of the law.

Why do I find it hard to believe that, with 20 VOLUMES of Title 26 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (the part written by the IRS) at 13,458 pages plus the text of Title 26 of the United States Code (the part written by Congress) at a mere 3,387 printed pages (bringing the adjusted gross page count to 16,845), the IRS is incapable of simplifying ANYTHING!

Poow, Bawney Fwank. Can't Take Hawd... Questions!



Imagine the fuss that would be made if Mitch McConnell or some other high ranking Republican wined and fussed refused to answer the question and walked out of an interview... The hula balo!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

All I can say is "Amen, Brother!"

This is a MUST READ piece. If the GOP expects to win, it needs to take the gloves off and start fighting like Democrats!

Face it, the Democrats will never be held to account in the MSM. If not for Fox News and the likes of Rush, Mark Levin, et. al. there would be NO accountability. With no accountability the Dems can say one thing, do another and never get questioned about the gap between their rhetoric and their actions (see Obama's PAYGO comments below).

The MSM would, however, cover GOP Congressmen & Senators if they started talking like Breitbart does in this article. The MSM would have no choice. Yes, they would try to spin it, but the Dems would be exposed for who they really are, once & for all. The truth would be out in the ether for all to see & hear. Like the saying goes, there is no bad publicity, there's just publicity. We need to quit playing the center and start standing on our core principles of fiscal and social conservatism. (Oh, and once elected, they have to govern that way too – see election results of 2006 for proof.) It's the only chance we have.

Know thy enemy: This is not your mother's Democratic Party
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
By Andrew Breitbart | Monday, June 8, 2009

PAYGO? Really? Obama? PAYGO?

Obama's call for restraint defies spending splurge
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
By Joseph Curl POLITICAL THEATER | Wednesday, June 10, 2009

"The 'pay as you go' rule is very simple," Mr. Obama read from his teleprompter to a happy crowd of Blue Dog Democrats. "Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere. And this principle guides responsible families managing a budget."

Mr. Obama's proposed budget would produce a $1.85 trillion deficit this year, more that four times the previous record set just last year by President George W. Bush, and $1.3 trillion next year. Over the next decade, the plan would incur $11.6 trillion in deficits - doubling the national debt, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Washington borrows roughly half of every dollar it spends and about 46 cents of every dollar pouring into the federal government goes out the door to pay for debt. And just like homeowners whose bad credit prevents them from borrowing money, the United States could lose its triple-A credit rating within the next 10 years, Moody's Investors Service said last month.

In addition, top Chinese bankers, who own billions of dollars in U.S. debt, this month said the U.S. government should start issuing bonds in yuan rather than dollars. In April, before the G-20 economic summit in London, the head of the People's Bank of China called for the yuan to replace the dollar as the international reserve currency. Throughout, the Chinese have begun to balk at buying more U.S. debt, unsure of its future worth.


So how's that Hope & Change working out for you....?

Maybe China will take on the USA at another province?

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Why do I Like Her So Much?

Maybe because we think so much alike....

Palin: Government wants to 'control the people'
Posted: 01:09 PM ET
From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

(CNN) – Alaska governor Sarah Palin let loose Wednesday on the Obama administration for enacting fiscal policies that "fly in the face of principles" and "defy Economics 101."

In a speech introducing Michael Reagan — the son of former President Ronald Reagan — to an audience in Anchorage, Palin warned that the government is planning to "bail out debt ridden states" so it can "get in there and control the people."

"Since when can you get out of huge national debt by creating trillions of dollars of new debt?" Palin asked. "It all really is so backwards and skewed as to sound like absolute nonsense when some of this economic policy is explained."

"We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it," she said. "And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people."

"Some in Washington would approach our economic woes in ways that absolutely defy Economics 101, and they fly in the face of principles, providing opportunity for industrious Americans to succeed or to fail on their own accord," she said. "Those principles it makes you wonder what the heck some in Washington are trying to accomplish here."

Though the bulk of her remarks focused on government encroachment into the private sector, and praise for former President Reagan's views on limited government, the former vice presidential candidate briefly touched on national security. She told the crowd that "the terrorists are still dead set against us" and that her son Track is still deployed in Iraq.

"It is war over there, so it will not be war over here," she said. "And it had better still be our mission that we win, they lose."

She also pointed to the recent dismissal of another ethics complaint against her, one that accused the governor of having a conflict of interest for wearing a jacket to the opening of the Tesoro Iron Dog race in February that feautured the logo of the sponsor of her husband's team. Palin has been forced to set up a legal defense fund to help pay for fees related to an onslaught of ethic complaints.

Palin said of the people who have filed the complaints: "Those are the folks who want to tell me, they want to tell you, to sit down and shut up. We will not do that. I just can't, because I love my state. I love my country."

Emphasis mine...

Obama Makes U.S. Look Weak? So?

The people have spoken. It turns out elections have consequences...

Boehner: Offering To Speak With Iran Makes America Look "Weak"

Obama. The Great Unifier...

Obama calls for new beginning between US, Muslims
By MARK S. SMITH, Associated Press Writer Mark S. Smith, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jun 4, 10:29 am ET

CAIRO – Quoting from the Quran for emphasis, President Barack Obama called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims" Thursday and said together, they could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the timeless search for peace in the Middle East.
"This cycle of suspicion and discord must end," Obama said in a widely anticipated speech in one of the world's largest Muslim countries, an address designed to reframe relations after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Why do I think BHO sees the world through rose colored glassed?

Wow. Is He Really Qualified? (I mean BHO, not this guy..)

The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling G.M.
THE WALLS TREET JOURNAL
By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: May 31, 2009

WASHINGTON — It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism.

But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry.

It's nice to know we have someone so qualified helping to craft economic policy directly effecting a few million jobs...(This time I do mean Brian Deese, not BHO.)

Really?

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION


Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA


Facts (stubborn things:)

GLBT % of population:
1.51% of the total U.S. population identifies themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, or 4.3 total million Americans. These numbers are based on figures provided by a broad-based coalition of gay rights organizations and homosexual advocacy groups. The primary source cited was the The National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS), published in the book The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States (1994), by Laumann, Gagnon, Michael and Michaels.

Cost to U.S. Government (the "We the people" in our founding documents):
The federal government spent $6.1 billion on influenza-related programs in 2006, less than half as much as the $13.7 billion dollars it spent on HIV/AIDS programs that year, according to figures provided to CNSNews.com by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

During the same time, seasonal flu claimed 56,326 lives in the U.S., while AIDS-related deaths stood at 12,113.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Here are a Couple Intersting Tidbits...

From the Patriot Post
Friday Digest
5/22/2009

The Least Obvious Cut
Despite a bloated budget that expands government, President Obama vowed to cut or get rid of programs he considers useless or wasteful. But as a favor to his union buddies, one of Obama's real dollar cuts comes at the expense of the Office of Labor-Management Standards -- an agency that became a guardian of workers' rights under the Bush administration and whose investigations during his tenure led to 900 convictions of corrupt union officials.

Obama's budget proposal cuts $4 million in funding for the agency and requires resources to be transferred from the union watchdog to other agencies focusing on employers. Furthermore, the little guy who works in the union shop can no longer find out just how his hard-earned dues are spent -- on AIG-style perks, for example. The Obama Labor Department will not enforce the disclosure requirements put in place under President Bush.

With Big Labor now sitting in the catbird seat at two of the Big Three automakers and with billions in federal funding to fall back on, removing a watchdog agency geared toward policing union scofflaws doesn't seem like it benefits the American taxpayer, nor will it bolster their confidence in the new UAW-led regimes at GM and Chrysler.

And...

News From the Swamp: Utah Gov. Tapped for China Post

Four months after assuming the office of Chief Executive, President Obama finally got around to filling the key post of Ambassador to China by selecting Jon Huntsman Jr., Utah governor. Huntsman, first elected as Utah's governor in 2004, is well versed in Asian affairs and is fluent in Mandarin. He previously served as a deputy trade representative under President George W. Bush from 2001-2004 and was ambassador to Singapore from 1992-1994.

While Huntsman is a fine selection, his nomination continues an Obama trend of naming possible political opponents to inferior positions in his administration. Naming Hillary Clinton as secretary of state is an obvious example, but another was his bid to remake the Senate by tapping Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) to be secretary of commerce, a post Gregg eventually declined. Huntsman was on the verge of forming an exploratory committee for 2012. As has long been the case with Obama, he prefers to clear the playing field rather than compete on a level one.

I HIGHLY reccomend you subcribe to the Patriot Post...

Monday, June 01, 2009

Note to Obama Administration: "If it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck..."

American capitalism gone with a whimper

Front page / Opinion / Columnists
27.04.2009
Source: Pravda.Ru

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

....lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

Even Pravda can see it happening. Why can't NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, CNNHLN, CBS, or ABC? Oh, that's right. They, too are Maxist's is sheeples clothing....